The NBC Nightly News anchor has told the story several times of an event in 2003 when he and his news crew were aboard a Chinook helicopter when it was hit by a rocket and had to land.

But it turns out that isn't what happened at all. Williams went on the air (above) Wednesday night to apologize.

Apparently several soldiers refuted his version of events, saying that it was another helicopter that got hit — an hour before Williams' transport arrived.

Williams says he misremembered the events:

"I would not have chosen to make this mistake. I don't know what screwed up in my mind that caused me to conflate one aircraft with another."

Hmm. That seems a little sketchy to us.

There's the defense that he didn't understand what he was told by the soldiers at the time about what had transpired in the tense situation — but it turns out he DID tell the story accurately once, on NBC's Dateline back in 2003.

And we certainly don't know how you can get two helicopters confused when one was hit by two rockets and the other wasn't — we mean, that's something you'd remember.

Maybe at this point he views it as remembering incorrectly because he's told the false story so many times; he's even recounted the story as recently as Friday's New York Rangers hockey game.

In fact, it was that retelling that caused the soldiers to come forward.

There has been no talk of Williams losing his position at NBC over the scandal, but this is truly a shameful day for the respected newsman.

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